If D.C. Council members give themselves a pay raise on a second reading later this month, at least six members, including three newcomers, will be eligible in the upcoming legislative session, under District law.
The Council passed an item 8-3 late Tuesday that would raise their pay from $92,500 annually to $115,000. The bill also would create a commission to study future pay raises. Council members last received a raise in 1999. Outgoing council members Adrian Fenty, D-Ward 4, and Vincent Gray, D-Ward 7, recused themselves from the vote.
But it was not clear Wednesday whether members to be chosen in a special election next spring to fill seats being vacated midterm by Mayor-elect Fenty and Chairman-elect Gray would be eligible, said Brian Flowers, deputy general counsel for the council.
Whether those new members will be eligible upon swearing in or if they will have to wait until 2008, presuming each runs for re-election, will “turn on the meaning of term,” Flowers said.
“It’s not something that we had thought about,” Flowers said. “I really don’t know how we’d resolve this.”
At least four council seats will have to wait until 2008 for their pay raise to be effective, under D.C. law.
If the measure is approved Dec. 19, the D.C. Council members will be among the top paid in the nation, behind Los Angeles. New York City Council members also recently passed a pay raise, to $112,000 annually. Those council members can earn more for chairing committees, a perk D.C. Council members do not have.
Council Members Carol Schwartz, R-At large, Kwame Brown, D-At large, and outgoing Ward 3 Democrat Kathy Patterson voted against the raise.
“I just think there wasn’t enough public input,” Brown said Wednesday. “I think we should spend time on the other issues.”
A $22,500 raise for some council members
Members who were elected this November to serve a new term on the D.C. Council and are eligible for the pay raise in January include:
>> At-large Democrats Phil Mendelson and David Catania
>> Jim Graham, D-Ward 1
>> Incoming members Mary Cheh, D-Ward 3, Harry “Tommy” Thomas, D-Ward 5, and Tommy Wells, D-Ward 6.
Members who will have to wait until 2008, presuming they run for a new term, include:
>> Carol Schwartz, R-At large
>> Jack Evans, D-Ward 2
>> Marion Barry, D-Ward 8
>> Kwame Brown, D-At large
